Finally saw them last night. The only reason I'd heard of them is because of you. I can now cross seeing them (and being in a mosh pit) off my bucket list.

(You're joking about not remembering the year right?) This problem doesn't persist in black fraternities, it persists in every single organization that has or HAD a pledge process at one time or another. Why would you think this is uniquely black? Remembering the pinning incident caught on tape several years ago by a member of the armed forces?

The biggest argument against it is that Heimdall was white in the comics. But as for African Vikings? http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/articles/african-roots-of-ireland/

This is kind of a sentence fragment to me. What would we need black rock FOR? Would we need it because its sound does something for us that other sounds do not? Does it expose us to new visions or reintroduce us to old ones that we've forgotten? In my humble opinion a little house music does wonders for the spirit...but i recognize (gladly) that i'm part of a small group of devotees.

what's different about this time?

But I cannot explain how it is that a mother (and family) finds it impossible to get probation instead to time in juvey. Son of a bitch. Of course you can! Explain on the other hand how you can possibly be labeled a problem child without a record of actually having documented problems? This is a dichotomous variable--there is no middle ground here. Either Ms. Cotton has a record of being disciplined for infractions beyond "wearing a skirt too short" or she does not. If she does not she is not a problem child. I don't see why you are being obstinate here.

the few times i've read something like this, i wonder, how do people know? did you read something in the paper? did someone go to his house?

they've got a lot of wall art going on. if you stop by baltimore let me know.

This is what you said earlier, taking a bit from Gladwell: Aside from all that and Gladwell's tangent into sporstwriting, we should keep in mind how difficult it is for pros to accomplish what they do. So given your support for this quote, exactly why would you think the blogosphere would have the chops to adequately critique this paper?

Conservatives have a voting trail, as well as an intellectual legacy that goes back a few hundred years. What domestic policies have conservatives either supported or put forth that could be used to argue they support political equality, much less either progress or reason? Conservatism may very well be the saving grace of the North...but not for any reason you pose.

I'm talking about conservatism. I'm not sure what you're talking about. One man one vote, rationality can be used to solve problems, through progress we can change the world for the better....none of those things emanate "naturally" from conservatism, American or otherwise. Do a keyword search on "neoconservatism" and "strauss." The same arguments hold for neoconservatism. Now you can try to rehabilitate it, the same way one might rehabilitate a crack addict or a drunk. But you've got some real work ahead of you.

Modernism is an art movement. But if you mean "modernity" instead of "modernism" you're still making a big leap. Conservatism doesn't have jack to do with modernity...in fact it rails against it. Think about it. Modernity is based on a few different ideas: *The notion of progress *The notion of rationality *The notion of political equality Conservatism stands (proudly) against these three. Always has.

The other night I found myself explaining the concept of blogging to one of the most beautiful black women I've seen in a long time. It was both exhilirating and frustrating. I'm like Pocahantas singing that refrain, "how can there be so much that you don't know?". I mean how do you live in America and not know what a blog is? Yep. Blogging has taken over the world. I hear that Fidel Castro has one.

and we all know that the only people who get social services are welfare queens and drug addicts. yeah. the reason wal-mart works so well is they are able to purchase in bulk. purchasing in bulk lowers the cost of the good....and consumers can then spend less to attain that good. break wal-mart down into millions of little mom and pop stores...would those mom and pop stores still be able to sell toothbrushes at 10c above what it costed to produce them?